Salaries in New Orleans.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.92x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$322,000
Principal Quantitative Researcher
Median of All Roles
$143,000
Lead Product Operations Manager
Entry Level
$30,000
Hotel Clerk / Front Desk
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
New Orleans, LA has a cost-of-living index of 0.92x the national average. The highest-paying role is Principal Quantitative Researcher at $322,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $143,000. New Orleans has a distinctive economy shaped by energy, port operations, tourism, and a growing digital media sector.
About the New Orleans market
New Orleans has a distinctive economy shaped by energy, port operations, tourism, and a growing digital media sector. The city's creative and cultural industries are unique employment drivers. Post hurricane rebuilding has created ongoing demand in construction, engineering, and resilience planning roles.
Energy & Oil/GasPort & MaritimeTourism & HospitalityHealthcareDigital Media
Top 50 salaries in New Orleans
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $322,000 | $251,000 – $419,000 |
| 2 | Technical Fellow | $319,000 | $249,000 – $414,000 |
| 3 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $312,000 | $244,000 – $406,000 |
| 4 | Senior VP of Product | $312,000 | $244,000 – $406,000 |
| 5 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $310,000 | $242,000 – $403,000 |
| 6 | Distinguished Engineer | $307,000 | $232,000 – $390,000 |
| 7 | Chief Security Officer | $307,000 | $239,000 – $399,000 |
| 8 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $301,000 | $235,000 – $391,000 |
| 9 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $301,000 | $235,000 – $392,000 |
| 10 | Senior VP of Security | $300,000 | $234,000 – $390,000 |
| 11 | Chief Science Officer | $294,000 | $229,000 – $382,000 |
| 12 | Chief AI Officer | $291,000 | $216,000 – $375,000 |
| 13 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $291,000 | $227,000 – $378,000 |
| 14 | SVP of Engineering | $288,000 | $225,000 – $374,000 |
| 15 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $288,000 | $225,000 – $374,000 |
| 16 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $287,000 | $224,000 – $373,000 |
| 17 | Principal Applied Scientist | $284,000 | $222,000 – $370,000 |
| 18 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $284,000 | $222,000 – $370,000 |
| 19 | Chief Architect | $284,000 | $222,000 – $370,000 |
| 20 | SVP of Technology | $284,000 | $222,000 – $370,000 |
| 21 | Principal Cryptographer | $282,000 | $220,000 – $366,000 |
| 22 | SVP of Strategy | $282,000 | $220,000 – $366,000 |
| 23 | Senior Head of Security | $280,000 | $218,000 – $363,000 |
| 24 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $279,000 | $217,000 – $362,000 |
| 25 | Senior Head of Product | $279,000 | $218,000 – $363,000 |
| 26 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $279,000 | $218,000 – $362,000 |
| 27 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $278,000 | $217,000 – $362,000 |
| 28 | Principal AI Engineer | $277,000 | $216,000 – $360,000 |
| 29 | Principal Machine Learning Engineer | $277,000 | $215,000 – $359,000 |
| 30 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $277,000 | $215,000 – $359,000 |
| 31 | Principal Quantitative Analyst | $277,000 | $215,000 – $359,000 |
| 32 | Chief Strategy Officer | $277,000 | $216,000 – $360,000 |
| 33 | SVP of Product | $277,000 | $216,000 – $360,000 |
| 34 | SVP of Marketing | $277,000 | $216,000 – $361,000 |
| 35 | Chief Legal Officer | $276,000 | $215,000 – $359,000 |
| 36 | VP of AI | $275,000 | $208,000 – $360,000 |
| 37 | Chief Growth Officer | $275,000 | $214,000 – $357,000 |
| 38 | Principal NLP Engineer | $274,000 | $213,000 – $355,000 |
| 39 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $274,000 | $213,000 – $356,000 |
| 40 | Principal Compiler Engineer | $274,000 | $213,000 – $355,000 |
| 41 | Senior VP of Design | $274,000 | $214,000 – $356,000 |
| 42 | L7 Software Engineer | $274,000 | $214,000 – $356,000 |
| 43 | CTO | $273,000 | $213,000 – $355,000 |
| 44 | Staff AI Agent Architect | $272,000 | $212,000 – $353,000 |
| 45 | Chief Transformation Officer | $272,000 | $212,000 – $354,000 |
| 46 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $271,000 | $202,000 – $354,000 |
| 47 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $271,000 | $211,000 – $352,000 |
| 48 | Principal Language Runtime Engineer | $271,000 | $211,000 – $352,000 |
| 49 | SVP of Sales | $270,000 | $211,000 – $352,000 |
| 50 | Principal LLM Engineer | $269,000 | $209,000 – $349,000 |
Tax considerations
Louisiana's top income tax rate is 4.25%. New Orleans has no city income tax. The moderate state rate and affordable living costs yield good take home pay.
Negotiating in New Orleans
Highlight energy sector or resilience engineering experience. New Orleans employers pay premiums for professionals who understand the region's unique environmental and infrastructure challenges.
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